Swaziland in 2002

King Mswati III, with much power shared by his mother, Queen Mother Ntombi Latfwala

Head of government:

Prime Minister Barnabas Sibusiso Dlamini

The detention and trial of Mario Masuku, president of the People’s United Democratic Movement, drew widespread attention in 2002. Masuku had been arrested in late 2000 after he made an allegedly seditious statement about King Mswati III. The high court released Masuku in August 2002 after the state failed to prove its claim.

The Constitution Drafting Committee (CDC), headed by Prince David Dlamini, built on the findings of the Constitutional Review Commission released in 2001. In February King Mswati expressed reservations about the pace at which the CDC was working and the economic vision it was reflecting. Despite concerns, the king expected a draft constitution in October. He extended the submission date to February 2003, however, as he went into ritual seclusion in preparation for the annual Incwala (Kingship) ceremony.

Throughout the year Prime Minister Barnabas Sibusiso Dlamini and his cabinet made repeated political and economic blunders that strengthened the pro-democracy movement. In September the parliament rejected financing for a 450 million emalangeni (about $45 million) jet for the king. Dlamini claimed sole responsibility for the decision to purchase the executive jet; local and international critics argued that the money could be better spent fighting rampant poverty and the HIV/AIDS epidemic.

Pro-democracy protests intensified when Mswati chose three high-school-age women as his intended brides despite his 2001 decree that young women should not engage in sexual activity for the next five years. The mother of one of the girls filed suit in an unprecedented legal dispute with the king to get her daughter back, but she dropped the suit after her daughter’s engagement became official.